A magnetometer can be used to measure the ferrous material present in an oil sample. See U.S. patent application Ser. No. 15/434,293 by the applicant hereof and incorporated herein by this reference. The oil may be sumped from a machine and delivered to a sample vial which is then inserted into the magnetometer.
A magnetometer can also be used to measure the ferrous material present in more viscous samples such as grease. But, loading grease into a sample vial can be messy and difficult. It is also important to ensure the grease does not contaminate the magnetometer. At the same time, the volume of grease must be consistent. Any air pockets will result in erroneous readings.
In the prior art, spatulas and the like were used to collect grease samples. See ASTM Standard D 7718 incorporated herein by this reference. U.S. Pat. Nos. 7,984,661 and 8,549,930, both incorporated herein by this reference, disclose a grease sampling kit. But, the cost of this kit can be expensive especially for a disposable product.